Genetic and Epigenetic Understanding of the Seasonal Timing of Flowering.

The developmental transition to flowering in many plants is timed by changing seasons, which enables plants to flower at a season that is favorable for seed production. Many plants grown at high latitudes perceive the seasonal cues of changing day length and/or winter cold (prolonged cold exposure), to regulate the expression of flowering-regulatory genes through the photoperiod pathway and/or vernalization pathway, and thus align flowering with a particular season. Recent studies in the model flowering plant have revealed that diverse transcription factors engage various chromatin modifiers to regulate several key flowering-regulatory genes including () and () in response to seasonal signals. Here, we summarize the current understanding of molecular and chromatin-regulatory or epigenetic mechanisms underlying the vernalization response and photoperiodic control of flowering in . Moreover, the conservation and divergence of regulatory mechanisms for seasonal flowering in crops and other plants are briefly discussed.